490 
SACRED AND CLASSICAL PLANTING. 
posed, it is not deficient in exhibiting some 
of those masses of light and shade so charac- 
teristic of the oak and elm. 
Amongst the trees selected by the Greeks 
to plant singly and in clumps was the Elm 
(Ulmus campestris). This plant was chiefly 
valued for its shade, and for its use in support- 
ing the vine, in which latter capacity it was 
very extensively employed by the Romans. 
It was a favourite tree with Achilles, who, in 
the midst of a grove of elms, caused to be 
erected a splendid monument to Eetion, king 
of Thebes. The Elm occupies a very im- 
portant station amongst the trees of Britain, 
and it is questionable whether it is not dis- 
tributed over our parks and pleasure-grounds 
in as great numbers as the oak. It is at any 
rate certain that around our palaces, castles, 
halls, colleges, &c. it is more generally dis- 
persed than our chief forest tree. 
Contrary to what might have been antici- 
pated, the Ash-tree was also grown in the 
gardens and lawns of Grecian villas. It is 
not to be supposed that it was its shade which 
entitled it to any preeminence, for in that 
respect it is deficient. The Greeks, however, 
no doubt prized it for the elegance of its struc- 
ture and its easy-flowing spray, which, when 
the tree is in perfection, not unfrequently 
hangs about it in loose pendulous masses. 
But the Ash had other attractions to them. 
To a people whose souls were so given up to 
nature, the signs of the seasons so faithfully 
and beautifully portrayed by this object 
would be peculiarly acceptable. Whilst by 
some who live near to nature, and follow her 
in all her phases, this tree is objected to as 
prematurely reminding us of autumn ; there are 
others (and the ancient Greeks were of the 
number) who behold in it a faithful indicator 
of the season, and esteem it accordingly. In 
many instances, indeed, the transient duration 
of its leaves has led many to consider it as a 
tree which ought to be avoided in all orna- 
mental plantations, as if the early decline of 
its foliage were at variance with nature, or no 
embellishment to the landscape. This, how- 
ever, betrays only a wandering from that 
beautiful and characteristic system which has 
been established throughout our sylvan domain, 
and which Oriental nations, as well as our own 
peasantry, yet recognise. To them, trees form 
a calendar, and in this there is a beauty ; their 
budding, leafing, expansion, and fading, are 
all associated with the circumstances of rural 
life, and are referred to almost as constantly 
as are the seasons themselves. In the recital 
of such incidents we frequently meet with a 
simplicity and force which common language 
seldom conveys. St. Pierre has the following : 
" I met one day," he says, " towards the end 
of autumn, a country girl all in tears looking 
about for a handkerchief which she had lost 
upon the great road." " Was your handker- 
chief very pretty ?" said I to her. " Sir," 
replied she, " it was quite new ; I bought it 
last bean-time." The mere date, however 
correct, would have been a blank compared 
with this compound word, which refers us at 
once to one of the loveliest seasons of the 
year. In Scripture language we have " the 
time of the singing of birds," the time " when 
the fields are white to harvest," &c. ; and in 
our own rural districts we have May-time, or 
the season when the hawthorn blossoms ; hip 
and haw time, nutting time, daffodil time, and, 
for aught I know, the time of the dismantling 
of the ash-tree. Now, this is just the language 
which the inhabitants of Hellas were wont to 
indulge in whilst talking of out-of-door em- 
ployments ; and amongst others the ash formed 
with them one of the chief trees in foreshowing 
the march of the seasons. In its dead state 
it was used as axle-trees, and more nobly, as 
the spear which Achilles wielded, and by which 
he in his turn was slain ; also as the arrows 
of Cupid, which afterwards gave way to those 
of Cypress. In its living form, the autumn 
tint of its leaf, and the time of the falling of 
that leaf, was anxiously looked upon as pre- 
dicating the character of the coming winter ; 
and, indeed, ever since, the dying hue of this 
object, whilst everything is yet green and fresh 
around it, has been looked upon as a striking 
accompaniment, mournful though it may be, 
to a particular season. 
The Sycamore (Acer Pseudo-Platanas), 
and the common Maple {Acer campestre), 
were both known to the Greeks and Romans ; 
but beyond the fact that the wood of the latter 
tree was in great request for tables, and that 
iEneas had a throne of Maple-wood, I canDot 
recollect any reference to their being parti- 
cularly distinguished in their living state. 
This of course involves no objection to their 
being admitted to an honourable place in a 
classical selection. 
The tree consecrated to Hercules was the 
Poplar ( Populus alba), and it was in great fa- 
vour among the ancients, who recommended it 
to be planted on the banks of rivers. Under 
a poplar of this description, which grew at the 
door of Tychius, a currier of Hyle, Homer 
often sat and recited his poems ; and this master 
of Grecian song frequently introduces it in 
his Iliad. Thus, he compares the fall of 
Simoisius, when slain by Ajax, to that of a 
poplar-tree : — 
" So falls a poplar, that in watery ground 
Kaised high its head, with stately branches crowned." 
The black poplar (P. nigra) also helped to 
imprint upon the landscape those features of 
beauty for which the soil of Greece was so 
remarkable. 
